Dangers of Mobile Phone to Students of Secondary School

Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place. It follows elementary or primary education, and may be followed by university (tertiary) education.

There are many different types of secondary school, and the terminology used varies around the world. Children usually transfer to secondary school between the ages of 10 and 16 years, and finish between the ages of 15 and 19 years, though there is considerable variation from country to country.

Depending on the system, schools for this period or a part of it may be called secondary schools, high schools, gymnasia, lyceums, middle schools, colleges, vocational schools and preparatory schools, and the exact meaning of any of these varies between the systems.

The secondary school students are those students of post-primary studies or as described above. It is at this stage of academics that students lay the foundation of their future. No matter what the student wants to be in life, the way is paved at this stage that is why most errors which are not corrected in secondary school lives with most students till the rest of their lives. Building people with global passion are deeply rooted in this stage of education.

A mobile phone (also called mobile, cellular telephone, or cell phone) is an electronic device used for two-way radio telecommunication over a cellular network of base stations known as cell sites. Mobile phones differ from cordless telephones, which only offer telephone service within limited range through a single base station attached to a fixed land line, for example within a home or an office.

A mobile phone allows its user to make and receive telephone calls to and from the public telephone network which includes other mobiles and fixed-line phones across the world. It does this by connecting to a cellular network owned by a mobile network operator. A key feature of the cellular network is that it enables seamless telephone calls even when the user is moving around wide areas via a process known as handoff or handover.

In addition to being a telephone, modern mobile phones also support many additional services, and accessories, such as SMS (or text) messages, e-mail, Internet access, gaming, Bluetooth and infrared short range wireless communication, camera, MMS messaging, MP3 player, radio and GPS. Low-end mobile phones are often referred to as feature phones, whereas high-end mobile phones that offer more advanced computing ability are referred to as smart phones.

The first hand held mobile phone was demonstrated by Dr. Martin Cooper of Motorola in 1973, using a handset weighing 2 kg (4.4 lb). Motorola released the first commercially available mobile phone, the DynaTAC 8000x in 1983. In the year 1990, 12.4 million people worldwide had cellular subscriptions. By the end of 2009, less than 20 years later, the number of mobile cellular subscriptions worldwide reached approximately 4.6 billion, 370 times the 1990 number, penetrating the developing economies and reaching the bottom of the economic pyramid.

Mobile phone has been an effective means of communication which has solved a lot of problems and poses a lot. It is mobile as the name, you can walk around with it play with it, sleep with it, travel with it and can equally go into the rest room with it. I see it as an important means of communication which has helped in many ways including times of danger, but is this seen among the students of secondary schools these days? The answer is NO! The mobile phone instead of doing well to this young generation or the called “future leader” it has caused a lot of harm to these upcoming geniuses. The questions now is, is it advisable for secondary school students to own a mobile phone? I mean students owning a mobile phone and not making use of mobile phone. Several reasons have been listed below why students of secondary should not own a mobile phone.

SIDE EFFECTS OF OWNING A PHONE BY STUDENTS:

HEALTH HAZARDS:

Over the past decade the world has seen rapid growth in cell phone users. Everyone from older adults to kids in high school seem to carry one glued to their ears, without understanding the possible health risks associated with the use of cellular telephones.

To begin with, a recent scientific journal published in 2007 titled Long term use of cellular phones and brain tumors, concluded after assessing results from many different studies that use of cell phones for more then 10 years does show increased risk for acoustic neuroma and glioma. Adding that the risk is highest for ipsilateral exposure, meaning tumor on the same side of the brain where phone mostly held.

Research scientists behind this journal assert that most studies to date on cell phone use and brain tumors have been mostly conducted with an insufficiently long latency period. This journal report gives excellent reviews of other studies and evidence of data entry errors, systematic bias and mathematical errors within those studies.

The effect mobile phone radiation has on human health is the subject of recent interest and study, as a result of the enormous increase in mobile phone usage throughout the world (as of June 2009, there were more than 4.3 billion users worldwide. Mobile phones use electromagnetic radiation in the microwave range, which some believe may be harmful to human health. A large body of research exists, both epidemiological and experimental, in non-human animals and in humans, of which the majority shows no definite causative relationship between exposure to mobile phones and harmful biological effects in humans. This is often paraphrased simply as the balance of evidence showing no harm to humans from mobile phones, although a significant number of individual studies do suggest such a relationship, or are inconclusive. Other digital wireless systems, such as data communication networks, produce similar radiation.

The World Health Organization, based upon the majority view of scientific and medical communities, has stated that cancer is unlikely to be caused by cellular phones or their base stations and that reviews have found no convincing evidence for other health effects. The WHO expects to make recommendations about mobile phones in 2010. Some national radiation advisory authorities have recommended measures to minimize exposure to their citizens as a precautionary approach.

At least some recent studies, however, have found an association between cell phone use and certain kinds of brain and salivary gland tumors. Lennart Hardell and other authors of a 2009 meta-analysis of 11 studies from peer-reviewed journals concluded that cell phone usage for at least ten years “approximately doubles the risk of being diagnosed with a brain tumor on the same (“ipsilateral”) side of the head as that preferred for cell phone use.”

ACADEMIC DISTRACTIONS:

Some students have the habit of keeping their mobile phones on during classes and studies, even in the library. The do so for their classmates to know their latest ringing tones, thereby distracting other students, even the teacher in the class. Some even put it in vibration and are distracted by the vibration from calls during classes and school hours, diverting their concentration on who is calling at the moment.

This “mobile phone” with different memory capacity is used to download and store several music of different lyrics and tones. The songs are being listened every now and then with the use of earpiece in the school and at home forgetting their academic work which is supposed to be their priority. Some even play these songs in the class, distracting the serious and minded students, while the constant use of the earpiece makes it difficult for some of them to understand conversations with low tones, and shout while talking with the aim to be heard. The academic distraction is getting worse by the day because those that don’t own a mobile phone are eager to get one. Once a student brings a book to study, and a call comes, that is the end of the study after the call, because their concentration will be on the call answered.

One of the several factors that that have distracted these upcoming leaders of our generation has a lot to do with mobile phones. Most students spend hours playing different games in the phone namely real football games, soccer games, snakezia, car race, puzzle games etc. They enjoy these games to an extent of neglecting their academic work, assignments, homework etc. They even discuss these games at school encouraging others how interesting the games were, storing games in the memory instead of their studies. Analysis of performing an art/creative work and playing mobile phone games in twenty-nine secondary schools revealed that 50% can play mobile phone games very well, 27% can do their art/creativity work well while 23% can neither do the art/creative work nor play games well. In order words, the academic works suffers it most.

COST:

The cost of purchasing a mobile phone is expensive to students of secondary schools that have little or no earning source. Most of them prefer buying phones with their school fees to paying it. When this mobile phone is bought, the student has to recharge it and make calls, send text messages, browse and download some files. All these things are money which can be used for their academic pursuit and/or other essential and important things. The cost of repairing and replacing damaged/lost ones are not left out, because, the fact remains that once a student has started using phones, it must be repaired or replaced when damaged or lost. Check the cost of recharging a mobile phone daily for one month, not to talk of a year. All these are unnecessary expenses for students that are being trained by someone.

NEGATIVE BEHAVIOR IN CHILDREN:

Once a child (student) started using a mobile phone, the numbers will be distributed to different kinds of people who will call and the student will receive. Most of these phones are multi-media in nature such that they download and watch all sorts of pornographic pictures and movies, which curiosity will allow them practice and know what it is all about.

Once a student started using mobile phone, it is an alert for opposite sex that he/she is ripe for sexual relationship. Naturally, there people who cannot speak to their mates face-to-face, using mobile phone becomes a good medium to express their feelings. Most of these students’ calls and messages are all about “I love you, crazy about you, miss you and the likes of it” once a new “love” is found, it takes almost everything in the person, e.g. the thinking, sleepless nights, even financial spending. For some, the phone is the used for formalize arrangements and appointments. With their phones, they know and observe all the happenings in the town like parties, night clubs etc.

Telling lies has become a common thing to students with their mobile phones. Imagine a student in another place for days, told the parents that she went on excursion, which resulted to pregnancy after some months, forgetting that “all liars shall have their part in the lake of fire that burns with brimstone” according to biblical injunction. Some of them are too proud of themselves when they have expensive phones with them, not knowing that “pride goes before a fall” some practice stealing in collaboration with lie to buy/ replace their phones. Some other atrocities like kidnapping, stealing etc are being carried out by some students with their mobile phones.

Most students are unable to concentrate on their studies because of the free calls (night calls) from different networks. These calls start 12:30am and end 4:30-5:00am, and some students make these calls daily, how can they learn when they are dizzy or sleeping in the class? How can they be mentally balanced health wise when they don’t sleep normally like students? Some of them risk themselves making these calls outside the room because of the distractions to others in the same room. The hours spent in making these calls, if utilized, can make the student emerge the best in academic activities.

EXAM MALPRACTICE:

Most of the students don’t study again because of the points mentioned above; rather indulge in exam malpractice during internal and external examinations. Some make use of the calculator in the mobile phone, while others store some information in it. The worst of it is that others use it to send objective answers to those in the examination hall, which may not be correct at the end of the day. This can end the student’s career if caught, as exam malpractice is a punishable offense.

In summary, mobile phones have been of help because information is power. When a student is not informed, he/she will be deformed, and when deformed, the student cannot perform. I encourage students of secondary schools to make calls at phone boot, use their parents, family or relative’s communication device to communicate rather than owning one because the bad part of mobile phones to students are more than the good part. The earlier you look into this and analyze it, the better for you.